Chapter 37  The Letter   HP Deathly Hallows
by FolkenLacourdeFanel
Summary: HPDH carefully omitted the reunion of Harry and Ginny and the beginning of the rebuilding of their relationship. I felt cheated a little so I wrote down my own thoughts on what Chapter 37 could have looked like. OneShot, HP&GW, RW&HG. Enjoy!


A/N: Overall, I enjoyed HP and the Deathly Hallows as much as I did the other books. I am still heartbroken over the breakup between Harry and Ginny in Half Blood Prince and wish that JKR had found a better solution and would have given us more Harry/Ginny smoochies but that's the sappy romantic in me talking. As it is, her plot design is great yet the transition between the final chapter and the Epilogue makes me feel a little cheated out of a heartwrenching reunion scene between my favorite two lovers.

While I wait for JKR to elaborate to us how that really worked out - I did write a humble letter to her requesting this information... give me a break ok, I know, I am male, I am 29 and I shouldn't be such a sappy love story hound or be rightfully called a poofter for the rest of eternity but that's just how I am, allright! My own love life sucks rocks right now, I broke up after 8 years with the girl I still feel is the love of my life because I messed up bad 4 years ago and just couldn't heal the wounds I caused for her to again believe that we had a future together and its tearing me apart!

If I can't have it for myself, I need to at least see and read about others having it and only a well done reunion scene between Harry and Ginny will make me believe the magic they had before the breakup is still there when they come back together. Trust me, after 4 years of struggling along with the magic gone, I know how empty a relationship can feel without it. While I know its fiction, Harry and Ginny have been part of my life long enough for me to have them feel real enough that I just need to have them get that magic back, they both went through so much, I can't think of anyone more deserving.

While I and maybe others patiently await JKR's word on the issue - my secret hope is that the final film does a better job of it than the book, hopefully along the lines below - here is my one-shot take on what could have transpired. Harry wrote the letter on the steps of Hagrid's hut after passing Ginny on his way to meet his destiny. I apologize for my ramblings above. Without further ado, I give you:

**--- Chapter 37: The Letter ---**

"That wand's more trouble than it's worth. And quite honestly, I've had enough trouble for a lifetime."

Ron looked at Hermione, still dumbfounded at Harry's words and she nodded at him, smiling. Chuckling to himself as the truth of Harry's words settled in, he grabbed her hand and turned to follow Harry back to wherever his mate planned to lead them next.

"I don't know about you guys, but I am famished and I could use some sleep, and I really had enough of crowds for the night." Harry grinned at them crookedly as he lead them past the Gargoyle.

"You recon' we could get Kreacher to bring us some food up to the Common Room?" Harry looked him in askance, his step slightly wavering as his eyes began drooping, the exertion of the last few days finally beginning to catch up with him.

"We'll figure it out, mate." Ron smiled back at him as he and Hermione stepped forward, each pulling one of Harry's arms over their shoulder.

"Sorry, guys. I'll be right up in a sec'." Harry's voice began to slur as his head dropped forward, his limbs beginning to dangle loosely between his two friends.

"It's allright, Harry." Hermione whispered softly as they began carrying him toward Gryffindor Tower.

"Let's get him into one of the bunks in the dorm." Ron mouthed at Hermione over Harry's still form between them.

Hermione nodded, smiling at him fondly as they made their way through the silent corridors of Hogwarts' upper floors. Deep below them, they could hear the cheers and song of the still ongoing celebrations in the Great Hall.

---

"Wait outside." Ron mouthed to Hermione has he carefully began removing Harry's torn and tattered robes from the unconscious boy.

Hermione smiled at him gently as she turned, and his heart jumped at the thought of celebrating in their own way later, his eyes following her as she stepped outside the boy's dormitory. Ron threw the robes on the floor beside the bed along with Harry's shirt and pants, then gently pushed his friend back onto the bed and wrapped the blanket around him.

"Rest well, mate." he thought, as he carefully stood up, as to not awake his sleeping friend and turned to leave the dormitory.

When his eyes passed over the pile of Harry's clothes, he noticed a crinkled piece of parchment that must have slipped out of one of the pockets of Harry's robes lying on the floor next to them. Without thinking, he bent down, moving to tuck it back into a pocket of Harry's pants, when he noticed the writing on the folded parchment.

'_To my best mate, Ron.'_ he read in Harry's unmistakable untidy scrawl and while a tiny voice in the back of his mind chided him for invading his best mate's privacy, his curiosity got the better of him and he unfolded the parchment and began to read. Harry's script looked rushed as if he had only had moments to write the note.

---_  
_

_Dear Ron,_

_by the time you read this I am no longer alive and I hope to Merlin, Neville found a way to kill Nagini and you managed to kill Voldemort. I am sorry it had to end this way, but now that I know I am the final Horcrux, there was not other way for me to end this but to go to him and have him kill me. Dumbledore once said that the prophesied power that can vanquish the Dark Lord is my ability to love. While I still don't quite understand what that means, I want you and Hermione to know that I love you guys more than you will ever know. I wish I had been able to tell you this in person while I still had time, but at least I get to say it now. I hope you two can go on together and live life to its fullest. I am glad you came back Ron, and I am glad you and Hermione worked things out. I know you two are good for eachother and in time, you might be able to think of me fondly._

_Ron, I am deeply sorry for hurting your sister and leading her on. Please, believe me when I say she was the love of my life and if there is anything I regret, its not having the chance to give her the love and happiness she deserves. I wonder if I already knew subconsciously of what had to happen when I pushed her away last summer. Now that I know, I am glad I did because maybe the resentment she must feel for me now will help her to move on and have that future I so wish I could have had with her. I too, was worried about her feelings when we kissed on my birthday at the Burrow, but when I saw her today in the Room of Requirement it seemed as though she wasn't too happy to see me again. Thank Merlin for small favors. If she had still been in love with me, I don't know if I would have the strength to do what I know I must. Please take care of her for me, you and Hermione. In time, when you think it right, please tell her I loved her from the bottom of my heart and that my last thoughts at the end were of her._

_Time is running out and I need to get moving if I want this to end before the madman starts killing again. I hope someone finds this when they search my body and passes it on to you._

_Please forgive me, for everything._

_Your friend,_

_Harry_

---

By the time he finished reading, Ron noticed that his hands were shaking and his vision had become blurry. He looked again to the sleeping form of his mate and an idea formed in his head. Grabbing the Invisibility Cloak from inside the pile of Harry's clothes, he quickly strode out of the dormitory and grabbed a surprised Hermione's arm as he began rushing towards the portrait hole.

"Ron, what's the matter?" Hermione looked at him startled as she recognized the tear marks on his face and he thrust the letter towards her, not breaking stride.

"Read it, 'Mione." he choked out, rushing out the Gryffindor common room and down the hallway toward the magical staircase.

Following along, Hermione eyes grew wider and wider and filled with tears as they scanned down the letter.

"Oh, Harry!" she sobbed, gripping his arm tighter, now willingly matching his pace.

"Ginny needs to see this, Ron!" she gasped.

"I know, that's where I am headed." Ron replied grimly, as they raced from the magical staircase into the Great Hall.

Scanning the crowd, Ron finally found his family huddled together at a table near the back, with Ginny's telltale waist-length mane of crimson hair right next to his mother. Ignoring the crowd around them, Hermione and and Ron rushed towards them, calling her name has they drew near. Ginny's head spun around as she recognized their voices, followed by the rest of their family.

His mother rose from her seat but something in Ron's expression made her hesitate. "Ronnie...?"

"Not now, mom." Ron said gruffly as Hermione pushed the parchment toward Ginny.

"You should read this, Ginny." she said in a tremulous voice.

Recognition lighting up in her eyes, Ginny grabbed the parchment and began quickly reading it, as her brothers, father and mother began shouting questions at Ron and Hermione. With Hermione answering them in a choked up but firm voice, Ron continued to stare down intently at his sister, as the meaning of the letter began to register with her. Teary eyed and trembling she looked up and with her lips quivering she asked, "Harry, where...?"

Ron leaned forward, pulling her up as he hugged her fiercely, pressing the Invisibility Cloak to her chest between them, whispering in her ear. "Gryffindor Tower, 7th year boys dorm. He passed out after the battle. He needs you, Gin, more than anyone else in the world. I know he is a prat for leaving you, but I know he just wanted to protect you. Me and the others probably didn't help much either. Please forgive him and be there for him when needs to talk about all this."

"There is nothing to forgive," she whispered back between sobs, clutching tightly to him, "how can I fault him for an act no matter how stupid, if he did it because he loved me. I'll give him hell for it, sure," she chuckled between sniffles, "but I still love him. How could I hate him. His stupid nobility is one of the reasons I fell in love with him in the first place."

"Good." Ron smiled and leaned back, grasping her firmly by her shoulders, "now go and keep him company. Get going, before I realize what I am saying."

"Thank you."Ginny again hugged him, standing up on her toes, kissing him on his cheek. With that, she spun around, running towards the entrance of the Great Hall, pulling the Invisibility Cloak over her as she went.

Watching her disappear in the crowd, Ron turned toward his family, wrapping his arms around Hermione, joining the furious discussion with the rest of his family.

"Ronnie, Ginny, where...?" his mother looked at him questioningly.

"He needs her, mom. And she needs him. You, especially should know how it feels." Ron smiled gently at his mother. She nodded silently, grabbing his father's hand and wrapping his arm around her, leaning into his chest.

His father briefly looked up at him over her back and nodded in silent agreement, pride in his youngest son's maturity shining in his eyes.

Ron hugged Hermione even tighter, pressing a gentle kiss on her cheek and she gave him a smile that made him believe, that somehow, everything would turn out alright.

---

Harry's mind slowly floated back to consciousness as bright sunlight tickled his face. He couldn't remember what happened after they had left the Headmaster's Office but he figured that wherever he was, Ron and Hermione must have brought him here. He felt rested for the first time in a long while and he couldn't remember what he had dreamed about during the night, just that it thankfully hadn't been a nightmare.

As sensation returned to his body he noticed that for some strange reason his left arm was immobilized by something weighting down on the bed next to him. He rolled around slightly, trying push it off, when he felt the soft texture of warm skin under his hand. His eyes flew open and startled, he realized that the strange weight snuggled tightly to his side was the body of a painfully familiar redheaded female. Harry's head recoiled in shock, the back of his scull bumping into headboard with a loud crunch.

"Bloody hell!" he gasped in shock and pain.

"Language, Potter. We do need to work on that, you know. We can't have you wake up half the house with your swearing, knocking yourself out and throwing me out of bed every time we wake up together if we are going to make this relationship work," he heard her giggling gently into his chest, and for a moment he thought it sounded like the song of angels. The creature in his chest timidly lifted its head from the tight ball it had rolled into for so long, mewling in a mix of fear and just a sliver of hope.

"Ginny, I am..." he started but she raised her head, smiling at him in a way he had never hoped he would ever get to see again, let alone having her give it to him, and pressed her soft, warm fingers against his lips.

"Sshh, Harry. I have forgiven you the moment you broke up with me because I knew it was what you felt you had to do at the time, no matter how much it hurt the both of us. Ron found your letter and while I already knew in my heart why you had to go without me and that if fate allowed, you would come back to me, I think I know even better now how hard it must have been for you. We still need to talk about all this, but now we have all the time in the world to do it. For now, just hold me and make me believe that this is real and that I have you back again."

With that, she leaned forward pressing her soft lips against his and after only a moment, he wrapped his arms around her, fiercely returning the kiss with all his soul. The creature in his chest roared loudly and in the part of his consciousness that was still able to think about more than the world's most precious girl in his arms, he realized that for once in his life, things truly seemed to work out in his favor. The road ahead was long and difficult but so long has he had Ginny with him and his friends beside him, he knew it would all work out somehow.

**THE END**

Reviews appreciated. Thanks for reading!


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